Large Content Site Management

not strictly just a cms issue

[ukgimp]

Here is the scenario. A logical site hierarchy, with clear set subjects.

Car
Cars => Blue
Cars => Red
Cars => Red => Small
Cars => Red => Large

The above has to be scaleable so another top level heading can be added. It is unlikely that it would need to go beyond small and large, but it could be a possibility.

Producing pages from access and a script is not to much of a problem, as is having a dynamic site from mysql with the facility of cacheing the pages for quicker serving

I have even toyed with the idea of spitting out php pages from an access/script and then ftp.

Where I get lost is dealing with templates and php. I understand dreamweaver templates and I have used php includes to a reasonable success level. Only prolem occurs when I wish to change the raw php template which has been used to create multiple templates and I then have to edit all the templates ensuring the correct include file/amendments have been used.

I would prefer to do all of this on apache with mysql and mdo_rewrite but I am concerned with system drain. The chances are once the site has been created very little will change, perhaps a copywrite statement or a right menu include.

Any suggested reading or advice?

Cheers

[NeedScripts]

Why not play with Mambo [http://www.mamboserver.com/] for a day or two and then.... I think you would have found the answer to your problem.

NS

[trillianjedi]

I agree, I've been playing with Mambo recently and it is very good. There's also a SEO module available which re-writes the URL's for you.

I think a lot easier to use an open source CMS than re-invent the wheel and go custom.

However:-

The chances are once the site has been created very little will change, perhaps a copywrite statement or a right menu include.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "little will change" but if you mean the content, then why use a database?

TJ

[ukgimp]

>>then why use a database

Seemed like the best way forward. I dont want to have to edit a template then have to upload 10,000 content pages. But I suppose these are the issues I am trying to address.

I will look into mambo

[jackson]

mambo, e107, the nuke family of CMS apps - much of it's courses for horses - as in making a choice and then running with that lot.

Just spent a couple of months "rewriting" a calendar based "events manager" app and that was "hairy" enough - as in 28-29-30-31 days in each month, 12 months in a year and a whole lot of stuff happening in between - as in real world stuff.

Thanks to the people here and the good advice to be had from these forums, this helped "remove" some of the grease from that learning pole.

My best advice from that experience - keep your forms generic - as in header, body and footer. Headers and footers tend to be fairly "static" in terms of coding and handling/holding code common to most pages. This, while the body handles the dynamic content on each call - assuming the content/data is being called from a database. HTH

[trillianjedi]

10,000 content pages

OK, that explains why you need a database ;-)

Jackson's mentioned "nuke" but I'm not sure that will allow the topology you want (directory like structure for the content)? Could be wrong.

There's loads of open-source CMS systems out there, I'm sure you could find one that suits even if that doesn't turn out to be Mambo.

TJ